Summit County News Releases

Now Accepting Applications for Dog Variance Permits

The Summit County Health Department is now accepting applications for the Restaurant Dog Variance Permits. This permit, if approved by the Health Department, will permit restaurants to allow dogs on their outdoor patios.

Putting Health in Your Own Hands

With many diseases circulating around the community, handwashing gives people the opportunity to take an active role in their own health. Handwashing is easy to do and it’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of many types of infection and illness in all settings—from home and workplace to child care facilities and hospitals.

Studies show that handwashing education in a community can reduce the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 31percent and the number of respiratory illnesses, like the common cold, by 21 percent.

Fee Increases for Health Department Services

After nearly four years without an increase to the costs of services and licensing, the Summit County Health Department will be increasing fees for some programs and services starting February 2, 2015.

The fee increases are in the Environmental Health Department. This program oversees restaurants, waste water quality, air quality and other environmental components of the Summit County Health Department.

PM2.5 monitors temporarily out of service.

The Summit County Health Department strives to keep residents informed of current air quality and is concerned about the reliability of PM2.5 data and, therefore, is working to calibrate or repair the PM2.5 monitors. Importantly, in the four years that PM2.5 has been monitored, Summit County has only exceeded the federal standard on two days, and both of those days were major dust storm events with strong winds from the west desert. While the Health Department is confident our air quality remains high, they understand the importance of measurement and are working hard to get the monitors back online.

30-day comment period has opened.

The Summit County Health Department is issuing a 30-day formal notice and comment period during which the public can review the proposed 2015-2016 Requested Fee Changes for Health Department programs and services and submit comments to the Health Department in writing either by mail or email. Comments must be postmarked or received at the Summit County Health Department by 5:00 pm Mountain Standard Time on January 2, 2015.

Radon test kits are now available at the Summit County Health Department.

Did you know that radon is the #1 cause of lung cancer among non-smokers in the US? One in four Utah homes have unsafe radon levels and high levels of radon in American households kill approximately 20,000 people each year.

Protect your family by testing for radon in your home and help the Health Department track high areas of radon in our community. The Health Department is offering radon test kits for you to sample the air where you live. The cost for each kit is $10.00 and this includes lab analysis.

Practical ways to help you make changes in your eating plan to improve your health.

Balancing Calories to Manage Weight

The first step is to focus on balancing calories with physical activity and consuming an overall healthy eating pattern. This will put you on the road to achieving or maintaining a healthy weight and reducing the risk of developing diet-related chronic diseases.

The Dietary Guidelines recommend shifting eating patterns to eat more of some foods and nutrients and less of others. A healthy eating pattern will allow you to meet the recommendations while staying within your calorie needs.